The session will be here before you know it
Your weekly preview of what to expect from us before we go daily
Good morning!
It’s Monday, December 12th.
Like it or not, there are 30 days until the regular session of the West Virginia Legislature begins.
Thought it’d be a good idea to give you a sense of what to expect (and give ourselves some practice) for when 60 Days starts hitting your inbox daily next month.
Grab the coffee and let’s get started!
60 DAYS is coming to you today from my stomping grounds in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. This is Apple Country. And it’s also the home of Berkeley County Senator Craig Blair, who is all but certain to be elected as President of the state Senate when the Legislature convenes next month. Senate Republicans chose him as their nominee last week while they were in Charleston for their December interim meetings. Since the GOP controls 31 of 34 seats, Blair is a sure bet.
Blair ran unopposed for the post after Jefferson County Senator Patricia Rucker withdrew when it became apparent she lacked enough support to mount a serious challenge.
Senate Democrats, all three of them, have also chosen a leader. Cabell County Senator Mike Woelfel succeeds Stephen Baldwin of Greenbrier County. Baldwin was among the Democrats who lost reelection in November.
Woelfel says Democrats will “continue to work across the aisle to move West Virginia forward.”
They don’t have much choice, do they?
The minority whip will be Wayne County Senator Bob Plymale.
The only other Senate Democrat is longtime lawmaker Mike Caputo of Marion County.
Over in the House, Clay County’s Roger Hanshaw will take up the speaker’s gavel again. And he told MetroNews Talkline that he’s planning a “significant reorganization” of House leadership.
Hanshaw saw off a challenge to his speakership from Raleigh County Delegate Brandon Steele. House Republicans voted 53 to 30 to keep Hanshaw in his post. And now Steele’s leadership position seems likely to be in jeopardy. Steele is currently chairman of the House Government Organization Committee.
Also, the scuttlebutt says Taylor County Delegate Amy Summers will step down as Majority Leader to take on an overhaul of the sprawling state Department of Health and Human Resources.
We’ll have to wait to see what happens.
Speaking of DHHR, the agency seems to be getting it from all sides. On Tuesday, the last day of the interim meetings, lawmakers heard an airing of mistreatment allegations against intellectually disabled people at state-run facilities, particularly the William R. Sharpe Hospital in Weston. As reported by our friends at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, DHHR is being accused of attempting to cover up the allegations. The federal Department of Health and Human Services is investigating.
DHHR is also in the middle of reorganizing. It’s implemented a hiring freeze while it seeks to live up to the recommendations of the McChrystal Group. The McChrystal review of the agency cost one-million dollars. Governor Jim Justice ordered it after he vetoed the Legislature’s bill that would have split the agency in two.
DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch spoke to WVPB about the reorganization in this interview.
Remember Derrick Evans? Evans briefly served in the House as a delegate from Wayne County, but after he live-streamed his participation in the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, he was arrested.
Evans claimed he was "simply there as an independent member of the media to film history." He served three months in prison. Now he says he’s forming an exploratory committee for a potential run for Congress.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin hasn’t served in the West Virginia Legislature in years, but it’s worth noting the speculation swirling around him — considering the open seats for the Senate and governor come 2024.
Manchin expressed relief after Democrats won a clear 51-49 Senate majority when Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock won last week’s runoff election against Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
During the first two years of the Biden administration, Manchin wielded outsized influence over his party’s priorities, but he told reporters that being the 50th vote in a 50-50 Senate “is not an enviable position to be in” and said he was happy to give up some of his power.
But then on Friday, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an independent. And now Manchin is the subject of Washington chatter.
Last year, during the negotiations over President Biden’s “Build Back Better” spending bill, Manchin said a report that he was considering leaving the party was “bullshit.” And yesterday on ABC This Week, New Jersey’s former Republican governor, Chris Christie, said “Manchin is never going to be a Republican.” The discussion about Manchin starts at around three-and-a-half minutes into the show’s roundtable.
Finally, in case you missed it, the U.S. Supreme Court last week heard arguments in a case that centers around the controversial “independent state legislature” theory.
Up to now, it’s been a fringe theory among conservatives, but North Carolina Republican legislators are using it to try to get around a state supreme court decision that rejected their gerrymandered Congressional maps.
The theory would strip the ability of state courts to review election laws, essentially handing state legislatures unchecked power over how federal elections are conducted.
You can hear NPR’s reporting on the Supreme Court arguments here.
That’s it for me this week, but before I go I have to appease Dave. He’s worried that our little project won’t look very appealing without pictures. So here’s a pic of my dog Jasper in his Batdog gear.
He was a puppy when this picture was taken, but don’t let him fool you. He may look cute, but he’s ornery.
Thank you Giles and Dave for your new column. Giles please give ornery dog Jasper 2 big hugs and a pat on the head from me he's precious.